I had against me at once every literary or artistic critic who already
held an assured position, from the influential men who wrote in _The
Fatherland_ or the _Berlin Times_ to the small fry who snapped
in the lesser papers, and if they mentioned me at all it was with the
utmost contempt, or in some specially disparaging manner. It was the
rival that they fought against. Thus it has continued to be all my life.
Certain "critics," such as Falkman in Denmark and Wirsen in Sweden,
hardly ever put pen to paper for some forty years without bestowing an
affectionate thought upon me. (Later, in Norway, I became Collin's
_idee fixe_.)
Add to these all who feared and hated a train of thought which in their
opinion was dangerous to good old-fashioned faith and morality.
Definite as were the limits of my articles and longer contributions to
the dispute concerning Faith and Science, and although, strictly
speaking, they only hinged upon an obscure point in Rasmus Nielsen's
philosophy, they alarmed and excited a large section of the
ecclesiastics of the country. I had carefully avoided saying anything
against faith or piety; I knew that Orthodoxy was all-powerful in
Denmark. However, I did not meet with refutations, only with the
indignation of fanaticism. As far back as 1867 Bjoernson had come forward
in print against me, had reproached the Daily Paper with giving my
contributions a place in their columns, and reported their contents to
the Editor, who was away travelling, on the supposition that they must
have been accepted against his wishes; and although the article did not
bear Bjoernson's name, this attack was not without weight.
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